


Mixed to a Mess

by spacark



Category: Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: He also swears in French, Kirino speaks French, Tsurugi has a weapon, Violent Children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24893035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacark/pseuds/spacark
Summary: The original owners of the Mixi-maxed souls suddenly make their way through their host, making noticeable changes: Kirino suddenly loses his ability to speak Japanese and converses exclusively in French instead, Tenma spends his time at Riverside trying to recruit children into his Knights of the Round Table, Nishiki is almost the same as always. But then there’s an upcoming disaster at the multi-millionaire company conference that’s held in the outskirts of Tokyo at the time – Shindou, not always so good at controlling Nobunaga’s soul, is attending. A couple of Raimon kids find themselves terrified at the thought and plan to rescue Shindou from publicly embarrassing himself, all the while finding a way to get all the other reachable Ultimate Eleven members together in one spot until they become themselves again.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	1. Kirino and Shindou, the French and the Arrogant

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @bearkitts on Twitter for the French translations!

“Stop. Stop that. None of us speak European.” Kariya groaned after Kirino effortlessly delivered _another_ line in French while attempting to have a conversation with him.  
“This really isn’t an elaborate prank, is it? If Kirino doesn’t start speaking Japanese again, isn’t he doomed?” Hayami said in his always so pessimistic fashion, “We’re all doomed.”  
Kurama crossed his arms. “I don’t think that speaking French will doom anyone. What would be a problem is if the soul of Joan of Arc is trying to take him over. ”  
“Je suis moi, merci!” Kirino responded in frustration, pressing his hand against his chest. Kariya shook his head. “This European is hurting my head.”  
“It’s French, Kariya.” Hikaru beamed.  
Kariya’s mouth curled into a slight grin, while his eyes were still showing a lot of annoyance. “Well, whatever it is, glad not all of us have to face this kind of side effects from mixing your soul with that of another.”  
A more quiet but the definitely worried voice of Hayami spoke up again. “Will he turn back?”  
In response, Kurama rolled his sole visible eye. “Does any of us look like a talking bear or time-travelling professor with answers, Hayami?”  
“Kirino is doomed…” The glasses-wearer waved his arms and pressed them against his face, staring at the ground. “Doomed!”  
  
The five of them sat on the grass near the front pitch of Raimon Jr. High. It was nice weather out and morning practice had yet to begin. They had all been on their way to the club building, until Kirino had walked up on them happily greeting the others with a ‘bonjour’ – and all the French that came after it was enough reason for Kurama, Hayami, Hikaru and Kariya to be completely stopped in their tracks and ending up taking a seat in the grass while trying to understand what was going on with Kirino’s sudden fluency in a foreign language.  
  
“Boooooooooooooyah!” A loud voice shrilled past them. “Hey y’all!”  
“Nishiki!” the group responded in surprise.  
“Woah! I would love to have a chat, but I’m actually seriously hungry. Seriously, seriously hungry. See ya!”  
And off he goes.  
Everyone else was left in confusion. “…. So, he…”  
“Well, Sakamoto Ryouma did eat a lot…”  
All of them went quiet for a couple seconds, staring at either each other and some eyes following the enthusiastic Nishiki as he ran off. Hayami sighed and let his back fall on the grass. “Kirino and Nishiki are both doomed…”  
Kirino lightly puffed his cheek in response. "Je n'ai aucune idée de pourquoi tout ça nous arrivent..."  
“Augh! Stop that.” Kariya reached for his phone and dialed a number on it. It was answered fairly quickly. The others watched. “Masaki!? What’s wrong?!” resounded in his phone speakers. The volume of it wasn’t fairly high, but as Kirino and Hikaru sat close to the blue-haired boy they easily could listen in. Kariya groaned slightly. “How do I say _‘shut up’_ in Euro-- err, what was it,” Kariya eyed Hikaru to remember the name of the language the other kept repeating at him. It hit fast. “In French?!”  
“… Masaki! I told you we’re at an important conference today and that you could only call in an emergency situation.”  
“This _is_ an emergency. So how-“  
Midorikawa sighed before answering. “Worst way to say it is _ta gueule_.”  
Kariya inhaled, gave Kirino a stern look and repeated the words. “ _Ta… gue…_ SOMETHING.”  
Kirino yelped. “La conférence… Shindou est là!”   
Kurama stretched his arms. “I caught two words of that. Conference and Shindou.”  
All of them went quiet again for a couple seconds, some mouth falling open.  
Kurama and Kariya locked eyes. Kurama was the first to state the problem. “So Shindou is at the conference. And he might act like Nobunaga.”  
“It can’t be that bad. Kirino’s speaking French, but he isn’t acting that much like Joan of Arc.”  
Hikaru yelped. “Wasn’t Nobunaga’s soul pretty hard to Mixi-max with as it was so powerful?”  
Hayami butted back in. “That could mean Shindou could lose his own self to him… how terrible…”  
"Shindou ne perdra pas le dessus sur Nobunaga! Il est vraiment fort."  
Kariya pinched his nose. “So Nobunaga might be participating in a conference for multi-million companies.”  
Kariya’s guardian coughed lightly in the phone. “… Masaki? I was about to hang up on you, but since I had to run to the hallway to answer anyway, _what are you all on about_?”  
Kariya had, in their sudden surprise, forgotten about the phone. “Midorikawa… have you seen Shindou at the conference?”  
“I’ve seen him, yeah. Pretty sure he’s forced up on stage in about an hour for their company’s presentation.”  
“Shindou is going to present at the conference?!”  
Kurama chimed in. “ _Nobunaga_ is going to be on stage.”  
“C’est terrible! Nous devons le sauver.”  
“Masaki. Explain what’s going on.”  
“The Mixi-maxes are out of control and now Kirino’s speaking French, we saw Nishiki having the appetite of Sakamoto Ryouma, and if Shindou is going through the same you might have Oda Nobunaga on stage.”  
Midorikawa’s response sounded somewhat exhausted. “… That makes absolutely little sense.”  
“Can you believe it,” Hayami nearly weeped, “Shindou is going to embarrass himself for life.”  
“I don’t think he would. Ack- Excuse me? I’m not supposed to call here..? Ah, my sincere apologies. Sorry, Masaki.” Midorikawa ended the call.  
Kariya stared at his phone with mild confusion, but then looked at the rest of the group again. “Well, that’s that.”  
“Don’t we have to get Shindou out of there..?” Hayami asked. Kirino expressively nodded, agreeing. Kariya thought about it for a second. “I could ask Midorikawa to try but… he probably can’t help too much. Except for maybe letting us sneak in. That’s something we can do?”  
Kurama folded his arms. “We can’t all barge in. You guys go, I’ll go and try to get track of Nishiki again and get him locked up.”  
Hayami agreed, “I’ll help Kurama out. I don’t want to be discovered sneaking in at a place like that.”  
Kariya nodded. “That leaves me-“ "Je viens avec toi!"  
“-Shindou’s number one fan, and Kageyama. Time to sneak in.”  
“I-I don’t think it’s-“ Hikaru stammered, but gave in when he saw Kariya’s dedicated face. “I’ll come…”  
“So,” Kariya looked at Kirino. “I didn’t pay attention to where the conference is. Do you know?”  
"Je crois que c'est à la grande salle de conférence près de la tour de Tokyo... ?"  
Kariya rubbed his temples once more, trying to figure out what the hell Kirino said this time. “I’m never asking you anything again.”  
Hikaru furrowed his brows lightly. “It sounded something like ‘conference near Tokyo Tower’?”  
“You speak European?!”  
“It’s French, Kariya…”  
Kurama and Hayami got up. “We’re going to look for Nishiki. If we can launch him into one of the clubs’ locker rooms, we’ll try and figure out what Shinsuke is up to. I don’t think we have to worry about Tenma. Everyone around knows he’s crazy, so if he’s trying to build a new Kingdom I don’t think anyone will bat an eye.”  
“Goood morning everyone~” a different voice chimed in. It was Hamano. “Takin’ it easy today, aye?”  
“It’s terrible… everything is terrible.” Hayami responded.  
“We’ve got some problems like always,” Kurama responded, dragging Hayami up by his arms. “You seen Nishiki around? We’ve got to find him. We’ll fill you in on the way.”  
“Oh, yeah. Saw him run just behind the dojo earlier.”  
And within moments, Kurama, Hayami and Hamano disappeared to the dojo.  
In the meantime, Kariya had his phone out again hoping of contacting Midorikawa again, but with how the latter had ended the previous call he wasn’t sure he’d pick the phone up right away. “Okay, let’s grab a bus to Tokyo Tower then and hope it’s right.”  
Kirino nodded, affirming the location was the right one, which slightly relieved both Kariya and Hikaru.  
Thankfully, there was a bus stop near the school and the bus ride would take only up to thirty minutes. Kirino, as the oldest of the three, was put under the pressure by Kariya to pay the fare for now. Not that he had much choice, as the other two only had enough pocket money on them to pay for the school lunch they were supposed to get later that day, and couldn’t afford the fare. Of course, Kirino had also the choice to go by himself, but he was painstakingly aware that with his current tendency to speak French he couldn’t easily talk himself out of any trouble the others might cause.  
In the bus, they tried to figure their action plan. Kariya tried to guess what time Shindou would be on stage, Hikaru actually attempted to look up the conference’s schedule, and Kirino spent a lot of time glued to the window and hissing “Plus vite, plus vite!” whenever the bus stopped. The other two figured it was probably an exclamation of great impatience.  
Suddenly, Kirino turned around. “Pourquoi est-ce qu'on a pas pensé à appeler Shindou et lui demander de quitter la conférence?”  
Kariya and Hikaru locked eyes, in confusion. “I only caught the Shindou part.” “That’s the only part I caught as well…”  
Kirino groaned and grabbed his own phone, dialing Shindou’s number. Of course, Shindou would be responsible enough to put his phone on silent mode especially during such an important day, but who knows if it could come through? “Bonjour, Shindou?!” He shrieked through the mic when it appeared for a second that the other side had picked up. Sadly, it was his voicemail. “Ah, merde.”  
“Oh!” Hikaru responded in surprise. “I think he wanted to call Shindou to ask him to leave.”  
“Huh? Oh, yeah, makes sense. I absolutely got that right away.”  
  
The travel continued and Hikaru managed to find the schedule, while Kariya debated by himself on contacting Midorikawa again. Kirino was eventually only found with his hands covering his face, but at least still more Kirino than Joan of Arc.  
“Kirino, can I ask something?” Hikaru asked nervously. Kirino released his own face from the grip, squinting a little, letting out a tired “Oui?”, knowing that whatever answer he’ll have to give next would only be met with more lack of understanding. At least it was Hikaru who asked.  
“Except for the French part, are you still… you?” Hikaru asked, tilting his head.  
Kirino nodded. “Oui, je suis toujours Kirino.”  
“Oh! Okay.” Hikaru smiled. “So not Joan? Can you feel her?”  
Kirino thought about it for a second, then shook his head. “Non.”  
“So, since this morning, you became Joan, but also not…”  
Kariya hissed under his breath. “I don’t get any of this.” He checked the clock on his phone. “We’re about ten more minutes underway. Shindou will be on stage in twenty-five. That means we’ll have 15 minutes after arriving.”  
"Appelle Midorikawa à nouveau, alors."  
Kariya squinted, but got the message – or at least, the Midorikawa part made sense. He went through his recent contacts again and dialed the number, hanging up after letting it ring twice.  
"Pourquoi t'as raccroché?"  
Kariya stretched his arms, yawning. He wasn’t going to bother to explain that he gave Midorikawa the space to safely walk out of whatever room he was in again before answering the call.  
A minute later, his phone rang again. “Masaki? Is this about Shindou again?”  
“Quite right.”  
“Look, I can’t do much to help. Hiroto’s constantly getting bombarded with questions since presenting our current business plan this morning, and I’ve got to support him in that.“  
“We’re coming over.”  
“Masaki! You’re not planning to-“  
“You have to let us in so we can get Shindou out.”  
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll stand out between all these old farts.”  
“Just find a back door and let us know where we can find Shindou so we can drag him out. We’re there in ten.”  
“Masaki…”  
“S’il vous plait! Il faut que tu nous aides!"  
A loud sigh was heard on the other side of the speakers. “You’re here in ten, right? I can only manage a supposed toilet break for a couple of minutes before they’re about to commit manslaughter on Hiroto.”  
“Yeah,” Kariya responded checking the bus information. “The stop is in about eight minutes.”  
“Taking two minutes into account for you to rush to the back doors… there’s a barely manned emergency exit near the toilets, actually. But to get there you’ll have to distract the guards.”  
“We’ll just have Kirino yell at them. That European is bound to confuse anyone.”  
"Mange tes morts, Kariya."  
Kariya stuck out his tongue. “We’ll meet at that exit.”  
“Roger. I’m off saving Hiroto for a minute, then I’ll help you rescue Shindou- Oh, hello.”  
Another voice, a bit distantly, sounded through the speakers. “What do you mean, rescue?”  
“Huh?” Kariya frowned. “Who’s there?”  
“Trouble.” Midorikawa responded, hanging up the phone.  
Kariya stared at it, somewhat lost.  
“I hope he can make it?” Hikaru inquired, nervous.  
“If it’s him, he’ll find a way. He can be as crazy as the craziest on our team.”  
“Aussi taré que toi.” Kirino sighed.  
  
The final minutes in the bus approached and the three of them grew a little more nervous. Finally, the stop arrived. The three of them got off and stared in awe at the large building, and only then it hit how much they really did stand out – junior high schoolers, in their uniform, surrounded by people dressed in at least three-piece suits and silky smooth looking ties. Women with their hair styled in ways that seemed more complicated than Midorikawa’s updo, men with shoes that seemed to only be cleaned minutes before as they were absolutely spotless. Their nerves didn’t calm at all.  
“On le fait pour Shindou…” Kirino gulped.  
“We’ll save him!” Hikaru beamed through his nerves.  
“I’m actually just here to watch the drama happen.” Kariya laughed. Kirino instinctively elbowed him, hissing Kariya’s name at him. Kariya laughed in response. “Kidding, kidding~” Except, really, he wasn’t fully kidding.  
“What are you three doing here? Shouldn’t you attend school?” A deep voice said, closer to them than they imagined someone could get as close within such a timeframe.  
The three of them shrieked. Kariya was the first to compose himself. “Oh, this uh.. him. He wanted to see this place.” Kariya said, pointing at Kirino. The moment the guard went to look at Kirino instead, Kariya made a run for it, dragging Hikaru along. Kirino started stammering. “Euh, bonjour monsieur! Très bel endroit! Mon ami est à l’intérieur et il a besoin d’aide. Est ce qu’on peut entrer?” He looked aside, noticing how Kariya had perfectly used this distraction to make a run for it to head to the entrance. “Va au diable, Kariya!”  
The guard looked at Kirino in confusion, then spoke into his transceiver. “There’s a foreign girl who seems to be trying to come in with her friends… wait, where did they go?”  
"Fille?!" Kirino cried. The man could’ve seen by his uniform that he most certainly wore pants, but he had to let the man’s poor eyesight slide and hoping he managed to stall it all well enough for Kariya to reach the back door. "Vraiment, monsieur, mon ami a des ennuis," Kirino tried again, edging forward. "Vous devez me laisser passer!"

“Whew, we made it.” Kariya said, sliding past the wall and eyeing the emergency exit lights. “This should be the exit Midorikawa mentioned.”  
“Is it okay to leave Kirino behind?”  
“He could just use one of his hissatsu to get away.”  
The door opened and a hand gestured to the two boys to come in. A couple strong arms immediately shoved them into a bathroom stall and closed the emergency door and the bathroom door again.  
“I still can’t believe you’re doing this, Masaki. You’re in serious trouble once discovered, but you’re already in serious trouble with me anyway.”  
“Sorry, sorry. I know I’ll have to clean the house for this.” Kariya nodded, pulling his puppy-eyed look.  
Hikaru interrupted the mother-and-childlike banter. “I’ll help you, I’m here too, and Kirino too…”  
Midorikawa sighed and twirled his hair. “This is between us. Now, the main stage is just straight ahead, but you’ve got about ten more minutes to get Shindou away from there. Which is likely impossible – the doors are still locked and he’s in there. You’ll have to blend in with the crowd or find a backstage route. If you get caught, I have no idea who you are. You can’t do anything to even as much spot Kira’s reputation here or you’ll find that revenge really is a dish best served cold.”   
Kariya shivered. Midorikawa was clearly in a really terrible mood. Do conferences exist to break a man’s sanity?  
Midorikawa shoo’d the two out of the stall and placed his hands in his hips, sighing then laughing a little. “Just about the excitement this kinda stuff needs. Make it fantastic, Masaki.” He walked over to the sink, washed his hands and then left the bathroom too, walking back to the main floor to rescue his own friend again.

Kariya and Hikaru snuck through the crowd and made their way to the back of the main stage. Eventually they settled on being _almost_ honest to whatever door guard they’d find there.  
“Hello! We’re friends of Shindou Takuto. He invited us over to help him and-“  
Somehow, these kind of bluff speeches helped them through. They somehow managed to come in reach of the team’s former captain.  
  
“There he is.” Kariya shrugged as he picked up his pace to get closer to the little heir. “Shindou.”  
Shindou turned around, taking a proper look at Kariya. “I don’t recall inviting you in.”  
“Well, we weren’t invited. Whatsoever, we should go back to Raimon before-“  
Shindou coughed. “Nor did I give you permission to speak.”  
Hikaru gasped lightly. “Uh oh.”  
Kariya groaned. “That’s pretty arrogant, all right.”  
Shindou shot daggers with his eyes, raising his voice more: “How come you are still standing up? Have the masses neglected their knowledge to respect me?”  
Hikaru shivered and bowed, still trying to get a message through to Kariya instead: “Maybe we should have taken Kirino with us.”  
Kariya, stuck between deciding whether to comply or rebel sighed. “I don’t think Shindou speaks enough French to hear him out.”  
Shindou repeated his exaggerated cough and shot forward to Kariya, hitting the latter’s stomach with his knee. “I gave an order.”  
“Ptchaw!” Kariya shrieked in response, holding his stomach. “No, you didn’t?!”  
“You would still ignore my orders? Do you really not know your own position, peasant?”  
Before he had the chance to hit Kariya another time, his eyesight was temporarily blocked by a thick fog.  
"Kariya! Est ce que ça va?"  
“Oh, Kirino- you made it in.”  
"Comme si j'allais pas essayer de rentrer. Shindou a besoin de moi."  
Blinking and trying to make out the figure of the next person in front of him as the fog disperses, Shindou shook his head. “More uninvited people?”  
“Shindou!” Kirino sternly said. He was a bit at a loss of what else he could say that would come through, so he just repeated basic phrases. “Shindou, retournons à Raimon.”  
“Ah, my foreign servant. You are late.”  
Kariya, still holding his stomach in pain couldn’t help but snort at the remark. Hikaru, still bowing, let out a surprised ‘oh!’, grateful that Shindou would at least recognize Kirino as a trustworthy person.  
Kirino was frozen like a statue, only his mouth moving as he repeated Shindou’s words. “Serviteur étranger…?”  
“Have you finished your tasks?” Shindou folded his arms. Kirino lightly shook his head in confusion. “Je ne sais pas… Shindou, nous devons partir de cette conference!”  
“You seem uncertain. But your dedication to still show your face is something. Servant, the stage awaits.” Shindou turned around and headed for the stage. Kirino ran after him, nearly tripping over a cord. “Eghk- Shindou! Non!” He grabbed the other’s arm, aware that it might not end up well, but he had little choice. “Retournons à Raimon!”  
Shindou stopped and looked Kirino straight in the eye. “Is it an emergency situation?”  
“Er… oui!”  
“Fine. Now unhand me, or you’ll lose your arm.”  
“… Oui, oui!” Kirino yelped as he released his grip on Shindou.  
Kariya, from behind them, snarkily groaned. “It’s kind of embarrassing seeing him this arrogant.”  
Hikaru finally got upright again. “Kirino convinced him! Great!”  
Kariya sighed. “Next problem… actually getting him out without being found soon.”  
Hikaru thought about it. “That’s true…”  
Shindou squinted at the two. “Peasants, thinking of sneaking around? We just march.”  
Kirino sighed and shrugged. "S'il le faut. Ils voulaient pas nous laisser rentrer de toute façon, donc sortir ça va être plus simple."  
Kariya stroke his stomach one last time. “Okay, okay. Let’s go.”  
Shindou proudly stepped forward and took the lead. “Let us depart. To Raimon, is it? Fill me in on the emergency while we are on the way. Are we losing the battle?”  
Kariya, Hikaru and Kirino quickly followed after him, all nodding. “Uh… really terribly, sir!” Hikaru tried his best to lie. It wasn’t all too convincing, so Kariya backed him up. “Many uh… foreign warriors invaded~!”  
Kirino shot a glare at Kariya, before redirecting his attention back to Shindou. He hurried his steps to walk next to him, bowed slightly and started his attempt of filling him in. "Il y a beaucoup de guerriers puissants... contre qui se battre, sir... Ça n'a aucun sens, hein."  
By now, they walked into the main hall. It was pretty empty, as most attendees were in the large conference room to listen to the speech of the Shindous.  
Of course, there was still a person hurrying over to the group of teenagers. “You found him!” Midorikawa said with a great tone of relief. “Will you head back to Raimon now? You still have classes today, don’t you?”  
Kariya twitched his eye. “Classes don’t really matter right now.”  
Hikaru gasped. “That’s terrible to say! We shouldn’t miss too much!”  
Shindou coughed. “It has come to my attention that there’s an emergency situation at Raimon indeed. We must depart.” Kirino nodded. Midorikawa blinked a couple times but decided not to really ask further. “Kariya, do you still have enough money for the bus fare back? It’s quite a ride.”  
Kariya pointed at the pink-haired upperclassman. “Kirino pays.”  
Midorikawa sighed in response and checked his watch. “Okay, I’ll give you all a ride for as far as it’s possible before the next break here. We’ve got a lot to explain to Hiroto tonight about this, but he was okay with letting me look after you all for a minute.”  
“Merci!!” Kirino exclaimed in gratitude. Midorikawa led the four out via the main entrance, waving at the occasional guard squinting at the group, signaling it was all okay. By the time they reached Hiroto’s car (and god knows how Midorikawa so easily got his hands on the car keys), they had quietly settled on the seating. Midorikawa driving, Shindou shotgun (they could try to put him on the middle back seat, but imagined he wouldn’t want to be ‘among the peasants’) and Kariya, Kirino and Hikaru on the back seat. Kariya tried to contact Kurama while they left. The phone was picked up pretty fast, and a loud sigh was heard on the other side of the line. “Kurama here. We got two and I never want to witness stand up comedy ever again.”  
“Nishiki and Shinsuke, huh?”  
“Yeah. How did fetching Shindou go?”  
“Sir Arrogant is now riding shotgun.”  
“Kariya!” Kirino hissed. Kariya shrugged in response.  
“You’re in a car?” Kurama inquired.  
“Mhm,” Kariya responded. “Midorikawa is driving us back to Raimon now. Guess he got interested in seeing this mess unfold.” He snickered.  
“Ahh, you made this truth come to light fast.” Midorikawa laughed. “Really, conferences are terrible. Of course I wanted to get away.”  
Shindou squinted at the sights that passed them by. “This country is in an awful state.”  
Kariya focused back on the phone. “We’ll be at Raimon in a bit. You’re in the dojo?”  
“Left Hayami there to deal with them. I’m headed to riverside because A, I couldn’t stand them any longer and B, heard people panicking about a kid screaming about how he needs to gather knights to take down an evil wizard. Back me up when you can.” Click. He hung up the phone.  
"Oh mon Dieu."  
“Aren’t we glad you’re almost sane.” Kariya sighed. Kirino shot him just another glare. "Kariya, tu devrais faire attention à ce que tu dis."  
Hikaru started counting on his fingers and mentally listing the people they’ve yet to find. “If he’s after Tenma now, we only have to find Tsurugi and Taiyou after that?”  
Kirino nodded. “Oui. Et ensuite trouver comment résoudre ça..."  
“Well, you got most people together. You’ll figure it out.” Midorikawa smiled as he somewhat carelessly took a sharp turn. The teenagers on the backseat yelped as they were launched to one side, falling on Hikaru. Shindou held on tightly. “Is this a plot to murder me and my countrymen?!” He yelled at the driver.  
“No, it’s just how I drive. We’re halfway there. Oh, Masaki. Maybe you should let Endou know about this, if you haven’t yet.”  
“Oh no.. we totally forgot to let coach Endou know that we left…” Hikaru yelped, as he patiently waited for Kariya and Kirino to sit straight again and stop crushing him against the window.  
“Oop.” Kirino gulped. Kariya got back up and reached for Midorikawa’s pockets. “I don’t have his number, so I’ll use your phone for that.” He explained, as he easily got hold of the phone and unlocked it. He scrolled through the contacts to find Endou and started the call. It was answered pretty fast as well. Kariya quickly hit the speakers. Endou’s voice sounded through the car. “Midorikawa? What makes you call? I’m sorry, I’m in a pretty tough spot to talk right now but-”  
“I’m helping. Masaki, Kirino and Kageyama are here with me, as well as Shindou.”  
“Oh! Really! That’s great news. Nobody showed up to practice this morning, but I had a feeling they’d be fine. You know what’s going on?”  
Kariya answered instead of Midorikawa. “Coach Endou, everyone who mixi-maxed is acting irrationally.”  
“Pas tout le monde!” “Irrational? Mind your words, low-life!”  
Hikaru raised his hands. “Easy, everyone…”  
Midorikawa took another turn, launching everyone to the side of the car again. “We’re almost at Raimon. Endou, I just heard a couple of the soccer club’s members are at the dojo. Maybe it’s an idea to gather them all in the soccer building.”  
“Yeah, will do. Thanks for the info, Midorikawa!” And Endou quickly hung up the phone.   
  
Midorikawa parked (or as the teenagers would rather describe it, nearly _launched_ ) the car in the Raimon Jr. High’s car park and let the children out. “Okay, all of you – just please behave like you should and attend class or something. Wait.” He gave a stern look at Kariya. “Are you really ditching class right now?”  
“This is important. … And it took you until now to realize that? Damn, old age really does something to-”  
“ _Masaki_.”  
“… S-sorry.”  
“Look, I have to head back to the conference right now.” Midorikawa scratched his head. Shindou, arms crossed, nodded. “So do I. This detour has lasted long enough. I see no urgency for me to be here.”  
“Eerr…. There’s an emergency at Riverside, but…”  
Hikaru tilted his head. “I think we’d best not take the upperclassmen with us, right?”  
“If it is an emergency, I am required to solve it. Let us henceforth head to Riverside.” Shindou groaned as he marched into the direction of the school gates. Kirino hurriedly followed him. "Ah, hé, attends!”  
Midorikawa sighed as he looked at the teenagers. “No moment’s rest in Raimon, huh? Happy to see that undying spirit faring well. Go on, boys.” He said as he pushed both Kariya and Hikaru onward in the direction of the school gates. “I’ll hear all about this later. Kageyama, feel free to come over for dinner tonight if you want to back Masaki up on his formal apology.”  
“Y-yes, mister!”


	2. Tenma, King of Riverside

Riverside park wasn’t far from the school grounds. It was just a little walk (or in this case run) through the neighborhood and through the train station and you’d easily reach the park and pitch. A single train that came past drowned out the yelling that came from the park for a couple seconds.  
Kariya and Hikaru only barely managed to catch up to Shindou and Kirino, who already made their way down the station stairs while the first-years were still trying to run up the escalator on the other side of the station. If anything the running made for an interesting variation on the usual warming-up rounds around the soccer club building. Nearly out of breath, Kariya considered for a moment just throwing himself off the stairs on the riverside side of the station. He instead opted for the safer alternative of sliding himself down via the railing. Hikaru stared with surprise as he quickly stepped down the stairs. The both of them were surprised to find Shindou and Kirino still on top of the large stone stairway that would lead down to the Riverside park. From downstairs, yelling could be heard. It was Kurama’s voice. “Keep your hands off me, you little brats!”  
There was a lot of laughter and yelling from much younger voices, but Kurama’s angry tone was hard to miss. What was also hard to miss was the response from the Raimon soccer club’s captain. “Do not hold back on punishing the evil!”  
  
Slowly descending the staircase, Shindou folded his arms, angrily. “They dare squabble on these lands?”  
"Ce ne sont pas tes terres, Shindou... Kurama, est ce que ça va?!" Kirino yelped as he sped up running down the staircase and ran towards Kurama, who forcefully tried to push children off his arms and legs.  
Tenma shrieked in surprise at the newly arrived foes. “… This accursed wizard has ties with the French?!” He took a proud thinking pose. “Think, King Matsukaze Tenma! We have to protect our Kingdom!”  
Proudly placing his hand on his hip and pointing dramatically with the other, he gave the children that surrounded Kurama new orders. “Knights! The wizard got backed up by the French! They are our enemy… The French must be stopped as well!”  
Shindou, not having moved an inch since reaching the halfway point of the stairs, observed the situation. “My foreign servant… was intent on betraying me?” Kariya and Hikaru, still lightly trying to catch their breath, hopped down past Shindou. Kariya waved at the captain from the final steps. “Oi, Your Highness!”  
Tenma observed Kariya. “You. You’ve come to back your King?”  
“Er, yes, Your Highness. See, this wizard is absolutely evil for sure, but not the ultimate problem out there. Er…”  
Hikaru followed Kariya. “Uh, uh, King Tenma! There’s… a bad time at Raimon… your castle.. uh..”  
Kariya and Hikaru were terrible liars and actors for situations like these.   
Shindou raised his voice more. “The peasants…too… I have been willingly lured into a trap… … Unforgivable!” Unsure whom to lash out to first, he angrily took the final steps down the staircase and walked up to Kirino and Kurama. Kirino was trying to convince the children to stop the roleplay and to stop kicking Kurama’s legs, but suddenly got forcefully dragged by the collar. “You…” Shindou angrily spoke into Kirino’s ear. Kirino got immediate goosebumps as he froze. “Moi?” “… traitor…”  
"Hein?! Non! Jamais! J'aidais Kurama..." Kirino pleaded as his defense, trying to save himself from the tight grip Shindou held on his collar. "Shindou, s'il te plait arrête, je peux pas respirer!"  
Kurama, having freed an arm and a leg reached out to the two other teenagers and made half a jump - as far as this was possible, with still a couple of children’s weights on his body - and hit Shindou’s arm. “Let him go!” Shindou, in surprise, lost his grip. He stumbled along with Kirino and Kurama. The three of them ended up tripping and falling over each other on a pile, with the two children that were left clinging to Kurama’s legs being caught in their fall too.  
  
Meanwhile, Hikaru and Kariya magically almost convinced Tenma to at least put down his pretend-weapons and order the kids to let go. Almost. The loud thump of the three teammates falling just behind them surprised the two and Tenma, who all got distracted to see the disaster unfold. And it was in fact a disaster. The children were pulling at Kirino’s hair, who in turn screamed a few French profanities, Shindou redirected his frustration on their unfortunate positioning on Kurama too, and the children that earlier clung to Kurama’s legs are loudly crying. The few other children were either laughing or trying to cheer the crying children up. Tenma stared in confusion. “Our knights were… not enough?”  
“I don’t… I don’t think that’s really the case.” Kariya sighed.  
  
“There you all are!” A new voice sounded from the direction of the train station. It was followed by hurried footsteps down the stairs. Kariya and Hikaru were the only ones to appropriately respond to the appearance of the new person. “Sangoku!”  
“Hey!” He responded to the two. “Coach Endou asked me to retrieve Shindou and Kirino at least while he's trying to figure out if someone else knows more about how to handle this. Help me out, will you two?”  
Kurama, shaking a child off his legs and holding down Shindou’s arms shouted right at the others. “Yeah, _I_ could use some help here!”  
“Um, um!” Hikaru gulped, redirecting his attention back to Tenma. “King, sir! You’ve been mistaken! Kurama is not an evil wizard, please order the knights to let him go!”  
“Yet…” Tenma thought aloud. “Then why did Knight Kariya claim he was?”  
Kariya shivered. “Uh…” He didn’t have a retort on this. He didn’t like admitting his outcry was a wrong one in the situation, even if it was a roleplay of sorts. So he continued a new excuse. “He’s uh! He was controlled by evil, Your Highness. But he’s okay now. The magic French words lifted the spell…”  
“Huh… Kariya is good at this…” Hikaru gasped.  
Tenma raised his voice. “Knights of the Round Table! Retreat!”  
The children, mixed between still crying and the handful that were trying to physically harm the soccer club members, withdrew from the scene and ran back to Tenma. Those that were still in tears were quick to be consoled by Tenma, who gently pat them on the heads and assured they worked hard. Hikaru tried to help console the children while Kariya walked back to his three teammates who lay on the grass, exhausted from all the grabbing and pulling. Sangoku walked over to them too. Shindou spouted a few frustrated outcries the moment Sangoku grabbed him by the arms and helped him back up. “Unhand me, unhand me!” He tried to hit Sangoku’s arms, but the other used his own strong hands to grab Shindou’s upper arms instead and render him unable to strike that way. Unluckily for him, Shindou still knew how to use his legs and reached out to hit Sangoku’s knees with those. Kariya dived in and grabbed the legs instead. The scene looked as ridiculous as just moments before, but the arrogant Shindou was at least immobilized for now. Sangoku laughed. “Hey, Shindou. We’re going to Raimon, okay?”  
“Not only did I get tricked and betrayed… but now also abducted…”  
Kariya sighed. “Yeah, yeah, you’ve been captured and now we’re going to keep you hostage.”  
Sangoku didn’t bat an eye to Kariya’s statements. “Look, it’s for your own best will, Shindou. Will you come along?”  
Kirino, who had managed to get up (along with some of Kurama’s help) held Shindou’s shoulders. “Ça va aller! Je viens aussi.” Sangoku left a little confused ‘uh’, not knowing what exactly Kirino tried to say, but he figured he knew him well enough to know that it was more reassuring than whatever Kariya tried. “Well, time to go. Kariya, you could let go now. Kirino, you’re coming along?”  
Kirino nodded a yes and dropped his grip on Shindou’s shoulders, reaching for his left arm instead. Sangoku remained only his hold on Shindou’s other arm and started guiding him towards the train station to make their way to Raimon. He waved at Kariya and Kurama. “Get Tenma to the soccer club building too, okay? I’m counting on you guys!”  
  
When after a couple moments, Kurama appeared in front of Tenma, the latter gasped. “You!”  
“I am _not_ an evil wizard. In fact, there’s nothing that threatens your kingdom.”  
Tenma cocked his head lightly. “But… you were controlled by evil…?”  
“Oh, cut the crap. There’s nothing evil except for your useless brain, Tenma.”  
“Hooooo,” Kariya cooed at Kurama’s harsh words.  
“W-well,” Hikaru tried to interrupt. “Now that’s resolved, shouldn’t we follow Sangoku and the others?”  
Tenma looked at the others. “Will that lead us to the true evil that threatens us?”  
Kurama clicked his tongue. “If that’s what your puny brain wants to believe.”  
“Kurama’s on a roll!” Kariya cheered quietly.  
Tenma inspected the three and the couple hopeful children around him. A handful of the children had already ran away. “Then we will come along. For the sake of our Kingdom.”  
  
Suddenly, Kurama’s phone buzzed. He quickly picked it up. “Kurama speaking.”  
A cheerful voice answered him through the device. “Yo, it’s Hamano! So I was on my way to get some info on Tsurugi for ya.” “Yeah? Got anything?”  
“As you thought, he’s throwing a scene near the hospital. Got his hands on some wooden sword too.”  
In surprise, Kurama almost let his phone completely slide down his hand. He quickly caught it and held it back to his ear. “A weapon!?”  
“Yeah! Wonder how he got it. Anyway, I’m leaving that up to ya. Heard coach Endou was about to feed Nishiki the homemade lunch he got from his wife. I’ve gotta see that happen.”  
Hamano hung up the call before Kurama was even able to exclaim ‘he WHAT!?’.  
Hikaru tilted his head, repeating Kurama. “A weapon? Who and what?”  
“Tsurugi’s at the hospital with a fake katana. And coach Endou is trying to feed Nishiki the food his wife made. Nishiki is constantly hungry. I have no idea how coach got him into the soccer building without a canteen detour.”  
“He will be missed.” Kariya deadpanned. “So, Tsurugi’s got a weapon? I’m voting Tenma for meatshield.”  
“I’m seconding your vote.” Kurama agreed. “Let’s head to the hospital before he actually attempts to cut heads.”  
Kariya and Hikaru nodded. Tenma was just eager to come along regardless. They made their way through the train station, past the street leading to the school gate, towards the town center. From there on, through the Shopping Arcade they headed to the hospital. It would’ve been faster to pass through the school grounds and get to the hospital from there, but they were all well aware that risking even more chances to be found as they ditch classes for hard-to-explain situations would’ve been inconvenient. Although they could’ve dropped Tenma off, but the three of them figured Tenma may still be a key in getting Tsurugi to work with them. At least, that’s how it usually would go.   
  



	3. Tsurugi and Taiyou, the Protector and the Strategist

“Halt. Nobody is allowed to go any further.” Tsurugi said in a low, almost more serious than usual tone.   
Everyone, with the exception of Tenma, responded with a mixture of surprise and disappointment. Tsurugi was indeed holding a wooden katana. Tenma was, unlike the rest, absolutely thrilled to see this. “Sir Tsurugi!” he beamed. “Still prepared to fight – We admire your resolve!”   
Kurama thought about Tenma’s response for a moment. “We’re going to have a mix up in how they see each other, huh?”   
Kariya and Hikaru nodded. Tsurugi took a battle stance. “Passionate words won’t sway me. You’re not getting past this point.” He spoke, earnestly. He carefully slid his hand closer to the katana that he held besides his hip. “Now…lea…” Suddenly, Tsurugi’s calm and devoted speech was interrupted by none other than himself. His spoken language quickly dissolved and was instead followed up by loud coughing. A lot of coughing. He didn’t seem very sickly, however.   
Kurama, Kariya and Hikaru just stared at him blankly. “Dedicated to protecting something, and tuberculosis, huh.”   
“Yeah.” “That cough seems worrisome.”   
Tenma clenched his fist with even more pride. “You’re one of the most amazing knights a King can dream of leading!”  
“Just shut your mouth, Your Highness.” Kariya grumbled. “Or what was it? Ta gueule? Boo, I’ve cursed you in French to stay quiet. Anyway. Tsurugi, we’ve come to get you.”  
Tsurugi, recovering from his coughing fit, balanced himself back into a steady position. “I will not be swayed.”  
“Oh, you will.” Kurama said, folding his arms. “We, err, have something of value for you back at Raimon Jr. High.”   
Tsurugi blinked. “What…?”  
Kurama slapped Kariya’s shoulder. “Your turn to continue this bluff,” he whispered in passing while walking on to Tenma, who had turned pale after the French cussing. “And since you’re cursed with keeping your mouth for now, I’ll be taking you along to pick up Amemiya at the hospital.”   
It was as if a huge exclamation mark appeared just above Tsurugi. “The hospital! No. You cannot go there!”   
“Why,” Kurama said, dryly. Tired. “Is your lord in there?”  
Tsurugi looked as if he was ready to break a sweat. But most of all, he felt like he had to remain honest. “Yes.”   
Kurama held his hand to his forehead, still as tired. “Convenient.”  
Kariya saw his chance to pick up on Kurama’s request to ‘keep the bluff going’ and spoke. “Can we meet him?” Hikaru followed up: “Your lord sounds like a cool guy!”  
Tsurugi shook his head. “What business would you have with him?”  
Kurama and Kariya tried to think about it for a moment, but Hikaru managed to continue. “W-well, we’d love to see what kind of amazing person would have such an incredibly loyal bodyguard!”  
Tsurugi sheathed the wooden sword between his belt and pants and folded his arms. “My lord is indeed amazing.”  
“Aaah!” Tenma yelped suddenly. “We want to meet this person too. We must go!”   
“Wow.” Kurama commented. “Kariya’s curses don’t work long, huh.”  
“Shut up.” Kariya retorted. “Look, if our King Tenma wants to meet your Lord, you’d best not deny him.”   
“… Very well. Follow me.”   
  
The walk wasn’t very long, but mostly quiet except for Tenma’s enthusiasm for meeting another special kind of person. Hikaru was the one mostly playing along with it. Sometimes they had to pause the walk for a couple of seconds as Tsurugi had a tendency to get a coughing fit. But eventually they made it to the hospital. Thankfully they managed to make it through the lobby without another coughing fit that would’ve alerted the hospital workers. Nor did they notice that one of the teenagers was carrying a weapon around, but those that might’ve noticed might have just imagined it to be plastic or the like. They made their way up to the second floor, towards Tsurugi Yuuichi’s room. **  
**“Tsurugi Yuuichi is your lord, right?” Kariya poked his head around the room’s entrance. Tsurugi nodded and walked in. Yuuichi responded with excitement at seeing various new faces. “Oh, hello! Are you Kyousuke’s friends too? Good afternoon, Tenma!”  
Tenma was an excitable King once more. “Greetings, Merlin!!”  
“Merlin?” Kariya squinted. Kurama shrugged. “Wasn’t that a wizard or something?”   
“I think it was.” Hikaru answered.   
“Wow.” Kurama deadpanned once more. “I hope it’ll only help us out here.”  
“My lord,” Tsurugi interrupted. “These fellows wanted to meet you. They claim to be on the orders of their King, err… King Tenma, was it?”   
Tenma nodded. “We wouldn’t have guessed Merlin had servants! You truly are a magnificent wizard, sir!”   
Yuuichi’s face went blank in surprise. “What? Oh, haha. You’re practicing for a school theater play? It’s okay to just invite me there, Kyousuke! I’d love to come watch.”   
“If only it was.” Kurama sighed. “They’ve gone extra crazy today and we wanted to ask you to convince your little brother to come with us back to school.”   
The younger Tsurugi pouted lightly. “I will not leave milord’s side.”   
Tenma happily joined in. “We’d love to speak more to Merlin!”   
Kariya shrugged. “That leaves us with one option – having him join us to the Raimon gym.”  
“But is he allowed out of the hospital?” Hikaru asked, worried.  
The older Tsurugi tilted his head. “I’m not sure what’s going on… But my next physio session is in a couple hours, so I could join you for a bit? As long as I’m back on time…”  
“If that’s what it takes… Is there anything we have to sign for your temporary leave?”  
“Oh, yeah. Also, really, what is going on?”   
“I’ll try to fill you in. Kariya and Hikaru, take Tenma and just use him to convince Amemiya to come over as well. I think he was a couple rooms over?”   
Kariya and Hikaru nodded and both grabbed one of Tenma’s arms. “Hey Kingy-boy! Your wizard will join us up in a bit, so time to get the other disaster with us too.” And so they walked out of the room, leaving Kurama to deal with the Tsurugis. **  
**  
“Amemiya…” Fuyuka sighed, crossing her arms in an attempt to appear more intimidating to the youth. “I’m glad you’re finally staying in your room for once, but can you PLEASE…”  
Her pleads were answered by the orange-haired boy dressed in his usual hospital-gear. He started to dislike the gear only more since he was allowed out of the hospital far more regularly these days, but every so often was forced back in to it for check-ups that would last longer than a single day. However, he did not sit in the hospital bed the way you’d expect a patient to do. Instead, he sat upright on the edge of the bed, legs crossed, a hand raised to his mouth as if he was holding a fan to cover his mouth as he spoke.   
“Miss Kudou… It’s truly wonderful to look at you today…”  
The nurse got flustered but tried her best to sound as sternly as possible. “I’m not… Amemiya, please keep your puberty under control!”   
Multiple knocks were then heard on the door. “H…hello?” Hikaru peeked in, followed up by Kariya and Tenma. “We’re here to see Taiyou…”   
“Oh!” Fuyuka cheered in slight relief. “Amemiya’s friends! Please. Come in.”  
The three entered the room. Taiyou stretched and winked at them. “Lovely! It’s an honor to see you all, my fair men!”   
Tenma clapped his hands. “Ah, the great strategist! I need you for our Quest, sir!”   
“What are you on this time?!” Kariya groaned, feeling more than ready to just grab Tenma and push him out of the hospital room. “All these meetings are a step forward to find the Holy Grail, of course?” Tenma said, speaking the next with mild disappointment. “How could you forget, Knight Kariya?!”   
“Huh? Your acting is great, but can you please practice for school plays somewhere else…?” Fuyuka sweatdropped. “This is a hospital, after all…”  
“Ah, but my beautiful miss Kudou, isn’t it all wonderful to imagine yourself in the place of your enemy?” Amemiya cocked his head lightly, spreading his hand to represent a fan again. He blinked lovingly.   
“Wh…what?” Fuyuka froze. Kariya and Hikaru looked at every attendant in the room. “I didn’t know Zhuge Liang was so… like this.”  
“Me neither.”   
“Maybe it’s a bit of Taiyou himself too…?”  
“You think?”  
Fuyuka clapped. “Sorry boys, I think we should stop this visit…? I don’t think this is the right time…”  
Taiyou interrupted with a loud gasp. “Miss Kudou! How could you.”  
“Amemiya…” Fuyuka responded as exhausted as she could possibly sound.   
Kariya spoke up. “We… we were supposed to come and take him along to Raimon for a bit, but…”  
“We want him to come!” Tenma beamed.  
Hikaru and Kariya shrugged. Fuyuka sighed lightly. “He’s finally staying in his room for once, and then still something comes up, huh…”  
“We’ll… just take him with us for a bit. He should be back to normal soon!” Hikaru cheered.  
“At least, we hope. They better get their shit back together soon.” Kariya mumbled.   
Tenma looked very excited. “Ah, to spend time with a great strategist… our Quest will be one for the legends!”  
Kurama showed up behind the boys, with Tsurugi Yuuichi being pushed along in the wheelchair by the younger one. “We’re ready. Is Amemiya coming?”  
Fuyuka felt even more surprise. “More…? Oh, I’m so confused now…”  
Tsurugi Yuuichi laughed. “It’s a strange tale, nurse Kudou! But please let him join us, okay? I’ll keep an eye on him too.”  
“Tsurugi! … All right, then. You’re going to Raimon, right?”  
“Yes.” Kurama and Kariya nodded.   
“Will Endou be there?”  
“Coach Endou? Yeah, we’re sort of here on his orders to get Taiyou and Tsurugi with us.”  
“I’ll have to give him a call… Amemiya, you’re free to go with them for today. But be back before dusk, okay? Your next check-up…!”  
Taiyou jumped from his bed. “Oh, wonderful! My great men, I will participate for the upcoming few hours. If you’re willing to discuss strategies, I’d be more than excited to listen and offer my thoughts.”  
Tenma shook in enthusiasm. “Fantastic!”  
Kariya deadpanned. “It’s like they haven’t changed at all.”


End file.
